Christ Methodist Church Memphis
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Christ Methodist Church Memphis
Al Hinson Interview (Sunday, May 3, Sermon)
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This "sermon" explores the challenges faced by vulnerable populations in Southeast Asia, particularly children affected by human trafficking, through the work of the Compassionate Hope Foundation.
Pastor Paul Lawler emphasizes the church’s mission of service both locally and globally, introducing the concept of "glocal." Al Henson, the foundation’s director, shares his journey and highlights the dire circumstances children face due to systemic poverty and cultural exploitation.
(Tina's song testimony was cut due to copyright issues.)
Welcome to the podcast of Christ Methodist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. Join us as we dive into this week's sermon that challenges our hearts and minds to grow closer to Christ. We pray that your heart is inspired and transformed by God's Word.
The Reading of the Gospel
SPEAKER_01Now, if you are able, please stand for the reading of the Gospel of Luke chapter four, starting in verse 14, going through verse 19. And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit of Galile to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country, and he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of the sight of to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks for you to God.
Mission of the Church
Serving the Community
Introduction to Guests
Compassionate Hope Foundation
SPEAKER_03Morning, Christ Church family. You may be seated. My name is Paul Lawler. I have the honor of serving as the senior pastor of Christ Methodist Church. We welcome you this morning, whether you're a member, regular attender, or a first-time guest. As we welcome you today, I'm not wearing a robe, and that's simply because I'm not going to be functioning in the preaching office this morning. I'm going to be doing or conducting an interview of some very special people. Before we go there, however, I want to remind you of our mission as a church family. Our mission is to glorify God and make disciples of Jesus Christ among all peoples. And as we do that, we have a spirit in which we want to aspire in this city, in this nation, and among the nations. And that spirit is captured in what's referred to as the Christ Church Vision Statement. Tech Team, who has, by the way, they have a lot on their plate today. So I just ask that you encourage them following the service or services today. Would you put the Christ Church Vision Statement on the screen? And then, Church Family, could we read it aloud together? Are you ready? One, two, three. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we will be a gospel-centered community who magnifies Jesus Christ as we worship passionately, love extravagantly, and witness boldly while serving the poor, the oppressed, and the marginalized, spreading scriptural holiness in our city and to the nations for the spiritual awakening of all. Yesterday, the Christchurch family, and if tech team, as I refer to this, if you want to scroll some pictures of the Christchurch family on mission yesterday, our church family fanned out all across the city of Memphis and served a multiplicity of our mission partners in a myriad of ways. There was prayer that was shared, there was fellowship, there was bringing witness to the gospel of Jesus in conversations, and then there was just good old-fashioned hard work. And it was a beautiful time of living into our vision as a faith family, serving the cause of the oppressed, the marginalized, the poor in our city. And we recognize as we follow Jesus together that that responsibility is not only to the Memphis Metroplex, and we want to make much of that. But when you read the words of Scripture, and particularly the words of Jesus, you recognize the call of the church is not only local, it's global. In fact, you could combine the two words and say the call of a Christian is local. Global and local. It's never pitting one category against one another. The heart of Jesus is for all people. So this morning we have guests with us, and I said a word about this last Sunday at the Benediction, as well as framing it through Monday's word from Pastor Paul. Guests with us who lead what's called the Compassionate Hope Foundation. And so that we optimize their time, let me go ahead and invite them to come to the platform. So I will formally introduce them after they get seated or have members of their team and so do so. Would you put your hands together and uh welcome them this morning as they come? Al, if you'll be kind enough to sit here and then ladies, as well as Al Stephen, let me hand you that. Al Stephen, and so what we're going to do here over the next several minutes is you're going to have the opportunity to hear about what God is doing in some very challenging places in the world, primarily Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and the Philippines. And as I noted with you last Sunday, this conversation is going to involve not only ministry and characterizations of what God is doing among the persecuted, but also what God is doing among those that are experiencing human trafficking. And so I'm going to begin by asking Al, who is the founder and director of Compassionate Hope, dear brother in Christ. I've known him for almost 20 years, and we have served together in some of the challenging regions of the world. This brother, I often say about him, he is holy, hidden, and humble, but a great servant of God, and you're going to hear more about that as we journey forward. Al, would you begin by just sharing a little bit about yourself?
SPEAKER_07Am I on testing test? Let's see here. Testing Thank you, Paul.
SPEAKER_03It's it is turned on, tech team, if we can find that that lever. Or at least thank you, Al Steven.
SPEAKER_06We we must have that younger generation, right, with all this technology. About myself, I was I'm the I was birthed through the prayers of a godly woman. She's 91 and a half, still living. My mother, she prayed that God would give her a son who would walk with Jesus. Preached my first message at nine, went to war with God from nine to twenty one, and the way I warred with God was trying to be the best church member possible. But God didn't want me to be a church member, He wanted my heart. So at 21, I took up the cross. I denied myself. I took up the cross. The gospel that I'd been trying to share, I started living. And planted a church in Nashville that grew to be the Lighthouse Ministries, had a heart for the nations because of that, began to visit Southeast Asia, disciple-making church planting ministries. They're now, I don't know the numbers, I don't want to make the scent of David and count numbers, but probably three to five thousand churches now across that region that we've been directly and indirectly involved in. But uh my heart, one of my spiritual gifts is mercy. And my heart, the heart of God, just wept for the children of Southeast Asia. And specifically those who were being trafficked and abandoned, or child brides, or being forced to be a second or third wife to an older man. And so that was the birthing 15 years ago of Compassion and Hope Foundation. And since that time, my numbers will probably not be exactly correct, but 45 plus locations now, 80 to 90 homes of hope. Presently living in those homes are a thousand rescued children, and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds who have graduated. One of our commitments is to every child we receive, we receive them as the sons and daughters of God, family. They're not orphanages, they're homes. And also to walk with them, not only spiritually, but also an education and all until they can become the self-sustaining ones, the blessed ones, the redeemed ones, the growing ones who can be a blessing then to others. And a part of our company here this morning, the two young ladies on the end, you'll you'll meet them in a minute. They're two of our redeemed ones. So rescued overcomers. Rescued overcomers. And uh they're they'll they'll be nervous and you'll you'll have to really smile at them, uh, but uh we hopefully they'll they'll be able to share some.
The Reality of Human Trafficking
SPEAKER_03Well, thank you. And I want it's important for everyone that's hearing this to understand some of the texture of this part of Asia. There's a absence of light, the gospel. Poverty is extreme, both in the Philippines as well as in the part of Asia that we've described. And so in light of that, I think I think it would be helpful before we extend interviews down the line here, to share a little bit about just culturally the way human trafficking is enabled. Yes, I I call it the perfect storm.
SPEAKER_06Poverty, no family unit, lack of education, the what I would call the opportunity. There's a lot of greed and lust uh in the world, and greedy, lustful people. There's the opportunities there in the nation of Thailand. I've heard statistics that like over fifty percent of their tourist dollar is either directly or indirectly around human trafficking. In the Philippines, for example, it is the number one nation in the world for uh OSEC, online sexually exploited children. The second nation in the world would be Mexico. And to get just a statistic, every time one in Mexico is trafficked, sixteen in the Philippines, and it's because they know English somewhat and technology. The final aspect of this perfect storm coming against them then is the um the matter of the culture. A child is born. When a child is born, they are born for the temple, for the village, and for the family. And their life, that's what they are, and especially the female then is considered an object, not really a person, but an object to the benefit of others that would want to take advantage of that.
SPEAKER_03I remember the first time I was with Al in the region of the world in actually Thailand where this was being enabled and literally seeing children sold like it was a marketplace. And my heart was, dear God, how dark is the darkness.
SPEAKER_06And so Yeah, we I think we took like a 15-minute walk. We did. And on the 15-minute walk, we probably passed 10,000 six-story buildings, girls on the streets, uh, boys. Yeah.
The Church's Response
SPEAKER_03And so the picture that before we move forward is when when we're aware of this kind of injustice happening in the world, the question one of the questions we could let's digest together as we as we move forward is how can the church of Jesus be indifferent to these realities? Rhetorical question. So let's keep moving. And so I'll we're already off script in a holy way. And that's okay. But we we have others here that we want to give time to share. So let me invite you to steward that.
SPEAKER_06Stephen is my youngest son. And he was born with multiple birth defects and should have never lived, except God had a different purpose. And he's given his life to the Lord. But he is our director of the Compassional Foundation in the Philippines, and I'll let him share just uh a bit about himself and that ministry and mission there.
Online Exploitation Explained
Introducing the Survivors
Testimonies of Hope
SPEAKER_04Well, good morning, everyone. I'm also Al Hinson. I always joke and say I'm the younger version, but I'm I'm not here alone. This is my wife, Kathleen. She was actually born and raised in the Philippines, and we met in 2011. I was going there for my dad was going there for a mission trip. I was going there for fun, but God had a different plan. And we married. And after five years of like father, like son, I was fighting with God about going into the bit into the ministry. God pulled me out of the corporate world and put me in the ministry. And so we left 2017 to go to the Philippines to expand the mission of compassionate hope to serve the least of these in the Philippines. And the least of these in the Philippines to us became the Osaek Children, which stands for online sexually exploited children. And a lot of people have asked me, well, what does that mean? And we've talked, touched a little bit on human trafficking, but there's really two main categories of human trafficking. One is what we call, what most people understand as human trafficking is what is called TIP, which is trafficking in person. It's something that happens face to face. That could be labor trafficking, that could be someone being physically sold. So it's a it's actual physical transaction. Well, over the last decade, because of technology and sin, there was a new type of trafficking that was birthed, and that was online trafficking. Some people know it as cyber crimes. And so the Philippines has become the number one place in the world that this is happening. And this is the number one reason that it can happen is a cell phone. I can take my phone, I can make a video call, I can call China, Japan, Philippines, anywhere in the world. I can do FaceTime, I can do Facebook, all these different applications that now allow us to do that. And what's what's meant for good, devil has turned it to evil. And so we committed in 2017 that we were going to fight against this atrocity that was happening in the Philippines. So my wife and I went there with the heart to help these children. And so after the children, we have operations and after they're rescued, where do they go? And so we decided that we would be the ones that would be the hands and feet of Jesus and would receive these children as the children of God, just as my dad said, sometimes hours, days, or weeks after that operation takes place. And so today I don't want to say too much, but I do want to introduce you to, I've met a lot of people. I've met Tim Tebow, I've met senators, I've met famous baseball players, but today I want to introduce you to people, two, two, two young people who mean much more to me than those people and are my heroes. And so one of the heroes that I want to introduce you to today is Tina. Tina and then also Ellie. Uh these two young ladies, they are from the Philippines. And they have in their life, they were at one point in a very dark place, and they were victims of online exploitation. And as God would only allow, he allowed us to receive them many years ago. And God has, through the different processes, has redeemed them. And so they're my heroes. And today we have a great opportunity for them to share their testimonies and to hear just a little bit of their God story. It's not our story, it's not compassionate hope story, it's their story and God's story of redemption. And today we're gonna hear Tina first. Her story is gonna be shared through through song. English is their sanctuate language. So she has decided to use the talent God has given her through music. So today, as you listen to the words of the song, Rescued is the name of the song that you'll hear today by Lauren Daigle. The words of that song are her testimony. And so let's listen to that, and then after that, we'll have an opportunity to hear Ellie on the end. She will actually tell you about her story.
SPEAKER_06So just before we do a statistic and help me here, Stephen. What percentage of those that are rescued are being abused by family members? Sold online?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that's a great question. So a lot of times when people think about trafficking, they think about mobs or syndicates and things like that, uh, which tend to happen some, but unfortunately in the Philippines, around 80 to 90 percent, the person that's facilitating and actually trafficking the children is typically a trusted friend or a relative. And so most of the cases that we get, we're rescuing actually family groups. So it's just not one or two, um, it's multiple people at a time. And the ages of the those that are being trafficked? Aaron Ross Powell, Jr. Yes. So the average age that rescued, if you if you average them, is is is when we first started, it was 13. Now it's down to about nine years old.
SPEAKER_06And Tina, who we'll be sharing, was rescued at eight? Eight years old. Eight years old.
SPEAKER_07She wants water.
SPEAKER_06Do you have some water? She's we can go.
SPEAKER_04We're gonna get some water before she sinks.
SPEAKER_06By the way, would you just would you give Tina and Ellie a welcome? Would you do that? Just welcome.
SPEAKER_07It's really important, I think, as they're getting ready for Tina. We we quote a lot of statistics. But it's not they're not sadistics. These are creature created beings male, female, created in the image of God, and so loved by God that he died for them, was buried for them, and rose for them.
The Value of Every Life
SPEAKER_06And he's loved by them and valued by them and wanted by them. So I want to make sure often when I speak to people, I think they hear statistics. Oh, oh, that sounds really, but it's really it's about the one one at a time. And these are treasures, beautiful, priceless treasures that this darkness and atrocity. But for us, the joy is we have taken the gospel into the darkest of dark places. And today you're yet bearing witness to the power of the gospel to not only rescue, but to heal and save and begin to transform that creation into the beautiful creature that God intended them to be. Tina.
SPEAKER_04This this morning, one of the things that I remember us reading, and that just God touched my heart. We one of the lines we read is that we're all consumed at some point in grief and pain and hurt. And these girls were at a point where they were extremely consumed. But God not only rescued them out of their situation, but today we've also read many things about we should be creating disciples that make disciples. And so as we receive these young ladies and young boys sometimes, our goal is just to not just to help them, which is good, but that God gives us the opportunity to, through life, to show them the gospel and how we live and love. I call it LOL, love out loud and live out love. And so that's the part of the transformation that these girls get to go through and boys. And Tina has lived that and is living that transformation. And next we get to hear an actual written testimony. Ellie will read her her actual story. And so this may be a little bit difficult to hear, but it is the truth and the reality of the darkness that's happening in the world today. And to see that, all you got to do is turn on Channel 5, Fox News, and you see it. But today you get to actually hear it from someone from a face-to-face testimony. Just like when Matthew, Mark, and John wrote the Gospels. The original says according to John, according to Mark. But today you get according to Ellie and a firsthand account. So Ellie, if you'll bless us this morning.
A Survivor's Journey
SPEAKER_02Good morning. My name is Ellie, and I am a survivor of online exploitation. And I say that now, not in shame, but with a testament testament to my victory, because today I stand firm in safety and confidence in my Savior Jesus Christ. When I was being exploited online, I cried out to be rescued, and God heard my plea. The Bible says I waited patiently for the Lord. He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire, and set my feet on solid ground. And he truly did that for me. God sent people to rescue me, along with my younger sisters and my cousins, one of whom was just twenty-five days old. At first, everything was terrifying. The police, the questions, the uncertainty, and because the very family we trusted were the ones who hurt us. I believed that most people were monsters. I truly did not believe that real love could even exist. A few hours after a rescue, all six of us arrived at the compassionate Hope Tibo Village of Oak. It was a safe place, but I did not feel safe. My shame whispered that everything was my fault. I believed that if if the leaders ever knew my dark secrets of the sickening things I had been forced to do, they would reject me. So I learned how to fake a smile. But it was an emotional mask hiding my deep pain. But day after day, love met me. Slowly, patiently. The leaders at Village of Hope poured unconditional love into me until for the first time I began to feel safe. That safety allowed me to open my heart to one of the leaders of the home. She told me that God was the true rescuer, healer, and lover of my soul. Not long after, I found myself robbed into her arms, sobbing. All the fear, shame, anger, and pain I had locked deep inside finally poured out. That glorious day, my incredible God came, rescued me, not only from my past, but from my shame, my anger, and my pain. That day he gave me a brand new life. The Bible says, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new person. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. That day I became new. Through God's words and his promises, I began to understand that I was no longer broken, unwanted, or defined by what had been done to me. I was adopted as a daughter of the king. I was welcomed into the loving family of God. Now God is using my healing to help others. I am not just a survivor, I am an overcomer. Today I am in my fourth year of Bible college. I have the incredible privilege of encouraging younger survivors and teaching them about the gospel, about forgiveness, faith, hope, and God's unstoppable love. And now my life has a purpose greater than my past, than my pain. Jesus said, Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. That is my prayer, that my life would shine as light, so others may find hope. I am so grateful to everyone who made my rescue and healing possible. And now it is my deepest desire to help rescue the next child who is still crying in out in the darkness, waiting to be saved. Thank you.
SPEAKER_03Thank you.
SPEAKER_06But uh my wife and I we we'll be celebrating fifty-three years of marriage soon. Four children, thirteen grandkids, and four great grandchildren. My mother still lives with me. She's ninety-one and a half, godly woman, and she has a hundred and twenty-something descendants, so we're a big family. I had this I was in a dark, because I'd been in Asia, a dark room with a concrete dirt floor mixture, ragged walls.
SPEAKER_07It was damp, raining outside, and it was dark, and I knew that God was there. And I heard this crying. I could tell it was a little girl, maybe seven, eight, nine years old.
SPEAKER_06And then uh the the God, I don't know what he looked like, but God a light began to come into the room a bit.
SPEAKER_07And he said, just listen. Does anybody care? Am I worth anything? Can somebody help me? I'm hurting. I'm hungry. I don't know what to do. I'm not sure life is worth living.
SPEAKER_06And then that went quiet, and then the father looked at me and said, I love her.
SPEAKER_07I see her. I care about her. Yes, father, I know.
SPEAKER_06Now you've been asking me what to do the rest of your life. Many are encouraging you to write books and train pastors and etc. But I want you to develop, use, and leverage who you are, and I want you to develop people, encourage people, because I want you to go find that little eight-year-old girl, and be my hands and my feet and my love and rescue her, and let me redeem her and heal her and save her and set her free. Yes, Father. And out of that, in harmony with my wife Susan, we surrendered and established Compassionate Hope Foundation. And it's important for you to understand. There's two things I want you to make sure that you understand. One, in this kind of work, there's no just I. There's an us.
SPEAKER_07There's an us. And each of us have our part.
SPEAKER_06I have the part God's called me to do. You have the part God's called you to do unto the least of these. That passage that we read there, Christ has anointed me, he said, to go and find healing for the brokenhearted, to set the captives free. And while I was sitting there and you were reading that, I was saying, Jesus, you're in me. That means I'm anointed. I'm anointed to go set the captives free, to bring healing to the brokenhearted, which is the second part I want to say to you.
SPEAKER_07From that time of nine till twenty one, when I was at war with God about my life, I came to this realization that I could not minister the gospel. Please listen to what I'm saying. I could not minister the gospel effectively and powerfully if I wasn't living it.
SPEAKER_06I hear many comments around America that I go find a gospel preaching church.
Living the Gospel
SPEAKER_07Go find a church where people want to live the gospel.
SPEAKER_06And I realize that often we think the gospel preaching church is when we present the gospel just for salvation. But the gospel is not just for salvation, it's at this moment to be saving me from my pride, saving me from my selfishness, my foolishness, and the unwise use of my time, my talent, and my treasures and my heart, setting me free from that kind of captivity and slavery, that I might be free to worship God, free to serve, free to go love, free to sacrifice and find joy if necessary in sacrificing. And so I want to call you in the name of Jesus. May God reveal to your hearts for you what it actually means to live the gospel, to deny self, to take up the cross and truly follow Him. After one of their visits, his mom had passed away, and they came and said, We want to help build a home in honor of his mother, a home of hope, called the Patricia B. Hammonds home. Now there's a Patricia B. Hammonds home, too. And I know he doesn't like me sharing that, but they partnered in this way too. And now his mother's being honored there in those two areas and villages. About a hundred boys and girls rescued into those homes of hope. Thank you.
SPEAKER_07Missy, thank you.
SPEAKER_06And I I'm not here to call you to be to help with compassion hope.
SPEAKER_07That's between you and God. What I am here to call you in this city, in this community, there are ones like this around the world. I'm calling you to love them, to care, and to ask the Lord, God, what is my part?
SPEAKER_06What can I do in this rescuing and bringing redemption to these precious ones? I thank you, Brother Paul, for letting us be here. Thank you for listening. And may God, my prayers, make God open our eyes that we may see what we need to see. May God open our minds that we might understand what we need to understand. And may God open our ears that we might hear what we need to hear from God. And may God cause the faith of your heart, the trust of God in your heart to receive what you're seeing and hearing and understanding till it becomes a part of you, the heart of God, the love of God, that you might live to truly love God and love others.
SPEAKER_07Thank goodness.
A Moment of Reflection
SPEAKER_03Al, thank you. And teen, thank you. Church, it uh I think it would be inappropriate if following how God may be speaking today for us to just close with the phrase, let's stand and sing our closing hymn. I think we need to take a minute and just let where we're seating be an altar and take one minute and just be still before God. One minute is a long time of silence in a public space with other people. But let's be still and just there's a phrase in the Old Testament, speak, Lord, your servants are listening. Let's simply be still and in a prayerful posture, listen. We're gonna take a full sixty seconds to do that, and then we'll move toward worshiping the king through song.
SPEAKER_07But let's pause.
SPEAKER_00Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the podcast for Christ Methodist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. We pray that today's message has inspired and encouraged you in your walk with Christ. To stay connected with our church community, visit us online at ChristchurchMemphis.org. We hope to see you this upcoming Sunday for worship as we seek to glorify God and make disciples of Jesus Christ.